Shortly after the breakup between PlayStation and Hideo Kojima, we saw reports citing insiders and their claims as to why the split happened. One of them was the potential cost of Kojima’s game, Physint, including one claim that it was on track to be well over budget in the long run. A few numbers for what the game will ultimately cost have since appeared online, with more insiders disputing them. Ultimately, though, there was no final figure as to what the cost of Physint will end up being.
The first to mention a number was Christopher Dring of The Game Business, mentioning a US$400 million (~RM1.63 billion) figure, seemingly in passing, as part of his podcast. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier disputed this figure – in a ResetEra forum thread discussing the figure as well as on his own YouTube channel – claiming that Xbox paid “significantly less than this” for Kojima’s Physint. Jez Corden of Windows Central echoed the sentiment, citing his own sources who also suggested that the number may be “potentially what Sony and PlayStation might’ve been on the hook for until they cancelled the deal”.
Dring then walked back his initial claim, saying that the figure was one of a few, ranging from US$300 million to US$600 million. He also clarified that the US$400 million figure, which was initially part of a paywalled article, was merely “the figure that is bandied around the most at the Tokyo bars”, rather than an insider source. Another rumour floating around was a third Kojima project, which may or may not be worth noting at this point.
As mentioned earlier, the real cost of Physint remains a mystery to the general public. Corden’s sources also claim that discussions between Xbox and Kojima Productions included both movie and TV licences for Physint, as well as “enhanced terms for OD”, though it’s not exactly clear what this actually means for the horror title.
(Source: The Game Business / YouTube, Jason Schreier [1], [2], Windows Central, Christopher Dring / X)
